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Pericles warns Athens of its own blunders

set in 432 BCE, Athens. As Thucydides tells it.

Where and when

set in 432 BCEAthens

2,457 years ago

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Pericles

, AthensAs Thucydides tells it

In plain words, ours

I have good reason to hope we'll come through, if we don't chase new conquests or extra risks during the war. I fear our own mistakes more than the enemy's plans.

I have many other reasons to hope for a favorable issue, if you can consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the conduct of the war, and will abstain from willfully involving yourselves in other dangers; indeed, I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy's devices.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.144.1Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.144.1, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

As Thucydides tells it, Pericles is speaking to the Athenians in 432 BCE, before war with Sparta begins. He urges them to give up their land and houses, guard the sea and the city, and not fight the larger Peloponnesian army in open battle.

Checked claim by claim against: Thebans attack Plataea and the war begins, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

Avoiding overextension was one of the two basic principles of his war strategy; some scholars argue Athens kept to it until the Sicilian Expedition.

Based on Wikipedia: Pericles

The two basic principles of the "Periclean Grand Strategy" were the rejection of appeasement (in accordance with which he urged the Athenians not to revoke the Megarian Decree) and the avoidance of overextension.

Although his countrymen engaged in several aggressive actions soon after his death, Platias and Koliopoulos argue that the Athenians remained true to the larger Periclean strategy of seeking to preserve, not expand, the empire, and did not depart from it until the Sicilian Expedition.

Wikipedia, Pericles (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-27. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 433 BCE1 year earlier Socrates says no one does evil willingly Also in Athens
  2. set in 432 BCEThis momentPericles warns Athens of its own blunders
  3. set in 432 BCESame year Pericles urges Athens to guard the sea Same passageMore from Pericles
  4. 431 BCE1 year later Thebans attack Plataea and the war begins The event behind itAlso about war and empire
  5. 431 BCE1 year later Medea on childbirth and battle Also in Athens
  6. 431 BCE1 year later Medea on the lot of women Also in Athens
  7. 431 BCE, written later1 year later Thucydides opens his history of the war Also about war and empire
  8. 431 BCE1.1000000000000227 years later Spartan army invades Attica Same years
  9. 430 BCE2 years later Plague breaks out in Athens Same years
  10. 431/430 BCE2 years later Athens holds a public funeral for its first war dead Same years
  11. set in 431/430 BCE2 years later Pericles on Athenian democracy More from Pericles
  12. set in 431/430 BCE2 years later Pericles on freedom in daily life More from Pericles
  13. 429 BCE3 years later Pericles dies Same years

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Well, this in future should, as far as possible, be our conception of our position. Dismissing all thought of our land and houses, we must vigilantly guard the sea and the city. No irritation that we may feel for the former must provoke us to a battle with the numerical superiority of the Peloponnesians. A victory would only be succeeded by another battle against the same superiority: a reverse involves the loss of our allies, the source of our strength, who will not remain quiet a day after we become unable to march against them. We must cry not over the loss of houses and land but of men's lives; since houses and land do not gain men, but men them. And if I had thought that I could persuade you, I would have bid you go out and lay them waste with your own hands, and show the Peloponnesians that this at any rate will not make you submit.

The quote: I have many other reasons to hope for a favorable issue, if you can consent not to combine schemes of fresh conquest with the conduct of the war, and will abstain from willfully involving yourselves in other dangers; indeed, I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy's devices.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War 1.143.5–1.144.1Translated by Richard Crawley (1874)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
set in 432 BCE. Set in the Athenian assembly in 432 BCE, before the war; Thucydides wrote it later.
Whose words
As Thucydides tells it. Who was Pericles?
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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